


Taijitu

by iluvaqt



Series: DC & Marvel: Nightingale [20]
Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games), Captain America (Movies), Smallville
Genre: F/M, SullyRogers, street battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-07-11 16:54:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7061263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iluvaqt/pseuds/iluvaqt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lois missed Chloe's centennial. She's not happy. Determined to throw a celebration to remember, their gathering is interrupted by Lex. It's Metropolis, they should have known better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Their arguing could be heard echoing through the entire floor. The domed ceiling making it carry and boom through the thin interior walls of the Justice League HQ. Clark was wincing and Steve looked obviously discomfited. They had come to Metropolis for a short and hopefully quiet visit, to reconnect with Lois. Since being back it had been jumping in to avert one crisis and the next. Chloe and Lois had called each other regularly, but hadn't had any cousin bonding time. Visiting so close to Chloe's birthday, they should have expected this. And from what he was hearing, Steve suspected that Chloe had, and tried to thwart and discourage Lois, to no avail apparently.

“Excuse me if I did want to be reminded of how long my cousin was captive and I had no knowledge of anything or I would have swiped Clark’s fancy ring or blackmailed Zatanna into helping me to find you!”

Seems the biggest sore point from Lois' end besides her cousin being the most uncooperative party girl was that she didn't appreciate Chloe announcing to everyone how old she was. There was a short pause of quiet before Chloe spoke and all the men of the Justice League shared a look with Sam and Steve. They'd all been on the receiving end of that tone once or twice before and knew well enough that it meant shut the hell up or you'd be in for the punishment of your life later.

“I'm 101, Lois. Ignoring it or pretending it never happened doesn't help anyone. Or so my therapist likes to remind me. If you'd bothered to ask me or even Steve, or remembered every instance in the past, I'm not the celebrating type. I tried to get Clark to sabotage your planning but apparently even his Mack truck subtlety can't derail your Lane stubbornness.”

“Pot meet kettle, Moira Lane mini-me. I missed your centennial. Suck it up princess, you owe me this for not coming to see me the second you hit home soil.”

Steve’s eyes rounded. _Wow does Lois ever pull her punches?_ “Ouch, she's playing the wounded cousin?”

“Lois Lane. Her hard truths will bulldoze you, ready or not. Rational arguments don’t work on her either, I’ve stopped trying,” Clark said with a weary sigh.

“Does that mean the party’s still on?” Bart asked rocking on the balls of his feet while holding his stomach. “I’m starving.”

Victor and Sam groaned and countered in unison with, “You're always starving.” They then shared raised eyebrows.

“I don't need a lot of calories. They replaced a lot with synthetics that run on a petroleum by-product. I only eat a couple times a week for appearances sake, and to keep the sensory memory alive. He cleans me out every time he visits,” Victor offered by way of explanation for his tolerance of Bart's eating habits.

“I got stuck with restock duty most of the time while we were layin’ low.” Sam nodded in the speedster's direction with a frown. “He dropped in uninvited and not only ate all Chloe’s cookies, but startled Snow into punching the stuffing out of me. Haven't made you pay for that yet, Imp.

“Hey, it's Impulse. Don't be a bully.”

At Steve’s disapproving look, Sam felt dismayed and contrite before he caught Bart looking smug behind Steve’s back. He growled under his breath and curled his fist. The little punk was going down. He might be the fastest man alive but he'd ask Wanda for help. Bart had to have an Achilles’ heel. The kid needed to be taught some manners. Actually Hawkeye might be a better choice. The man was a brilliant strategist and he'd managed to catch even Vision off guard in training before.

“Okay, food’s still hot and no one’s spiked the punch. I'm still hoping to be an aunt while I'm limber enough to keep up with ankle biters. Alcohol is a downer for fertility. Especially on the swimmers,” she said with a nod at Steve’s crotch.

Steve blushed a red as a tomato and was so shocked by her rambling that he couldn't even protest that she should quit while she was ahead, or behind. It really depended on which way you were looking at it. Either she was digging her own grave while clinging to an invulnerability complex or she should stop and make it shallow enough to still escape. 

Clark took Lois by the arm and steered her out of the tower to the balcony, he'd been at S.H.I.E.L.D when everyone had to clear medical, and Chloe had given Dr. Simmons and Agent May the run down. Clark knew the broad strokes of Chloe’s captivity and the likelihood of her ever being able to physically support a pregnancy. 

Steve himself had been riding a private roller-coaster of polarizing emotions and dreams when he’d discovered rather suddenly that Chloe wasn't postmenopausal as she had first assumed considering her age. Since that discovery he'd quietly hoped that every time they made love, that this one might be the one the defied the odds. Especially when they were intimate during her most fertile stage. He kept hoping that if her body had disregarded the fact that past her centennial she shouldn't be having a period anymore, that perhaps it could also ignore or even repair other things too. 

He knew how sensitive and vulnerable she was over the loss of their little girl so he didn't want to bring up the possibility of her scarring perhaps having healed over time. It didn't keep him for secretly hoping though and he had to hide his disappointment as soon as it was obvious to him that her monthly had again made it’s now regular appearance.

As much as Chloe would probably talk to Lois about the likelihood of becoming a biological aunt, Steve hoped that she wouldn't have to do it today. Today was the first birthday they would have together, a day that had gone un-celebrated without loved ones who cared and wanted to spoil her for many years.

While Chloe didn't like surprises or people making a fuss over her, Steve was glad that Lois had done this. Chloe gave so much of herself to others it was nice to be able to show her how much that was appreciated. How much people cared about her in return.

_//DRRT DRRT DRRT//_

One egg roll half eaten and poised for another bite, Chloe glanced up at the strobe light. To anyone else it would seem like a fire drill alarm.

Lois wasn't a Leaguer, but she wasn't clueless either. Oliver had read her in a long time ago, if their relationship had any chance they both knew, that he needed to come clean about his alter-ego. He wasn't wearing the green leather again yet but he was helping behind the scenes. He had resources available for Bart, Victor and Diana to tap into for whatever and wherever they were needed. “Come on! Can you guys get one night off? Who is it this time? I want to kick some ass myself.”

Chloe had tilted a very unassuming metal flower in a grand looking mirror that put the building into secure operations and restricted access to the elevators. She had switched the site from Hall of Justice to Watchtower mode. On the other side of the lounge area, false walls dropped away to reveal monitors and server towers. 

“When did we get upgrades?” Bart breathed in awe at the 4K curved screens. 

“Batman bequeathed a large sum of money to the Justice League in the event that he had to hang up his cape.”

“We all know that’ll never happen,” Bart quipped.

“You don't believe he's dead?” Lois asked a little skeptical. She hadn’t been on the ground as part of the news crews outside Wayne Manor after Bruce had been unmasked by Scarecrow but she had seen the footage multiple times. There was less than a minute from the time Bruce entered the building to the moment it exploded in a giant fireball - glass, bricks and mortar raining down everywhere. In the aftermath not even the foundations were in tact. Everything had collapsed into the caves beneath the manor, leaving Batman’s lair completely inaccessible.

“Bruce hasn't been seen since the Siege, but there are whispers of the Bat,” Victor pointed out.

“Batman and Bruce Wayne may be gone, but the man we know will never stop watching over his city, even if that meant leaving the means and the legacy in the hands of others,” Clark said in a sober tone.

A familiar and disconcerting voice boomed through the speakers as Chloe turned up the volume of the broadcast from WGBS’ Live SkyCam. “No government will take him down. No power on Earth can stop him, but I will. I have developed a weapon that will bring Superman to his knees, powered by radioactive pieces of his birth planet that fell to Earth the day he arrived. You refuse to be kept in check, Superman,” he said the name in a mocking tone. “You won't disclose your home base or the identity of the ones who harbored you in our midst all these years. You've proven how devastating your powers can be if you were to turn against us. No more. I give you thirty minutes to show yourself, Superman. Or the farce Justice building, the celebrated halls of the so-called heroes will be razed to the ground. And I won’t stop there. Every monument, tribute and trophy in your honor will be next.”

“He's finally lost it,” Sam said his jaw dropping. “He's not even wearing a mask. He's not even trying to hide his identity.”

“Lex’s problem is that he has always believed in what he's doing. That he’s humanity’s champion. He thinks he's the smartest and boldest man alive, and that he's only doing what the government types and regular folk wish they could do,” Clark explained watching Lex through the close up footage from the news helicopter feed. He looked determined and convicted.

“Some ego. He sounds like he'd fit right in with Hydra's program,” Steve deadpanned with a somber frown. 

“Lex doesn't like to answer to anyone, so if there is any connection there, they’re a means to an end,” Chloe reasoned . She opened a drawer and pressed comms. into Clark’s waiting hand. “Not like you’ll really need them, but if it means you can focus better on the fight...” 

Clark took them with a grateful smile. “Like old times.” Chloe smiled a little at his quipped and watched as he turned to Bart. “Feel like stretching your legs?”

“I’ll scout ahead, Big Blue, we both know I’m faster anyway.” And with a small gust, he was gone.

“Sam, you didn't happen to pack Redwing did you?” Chloe asked.

Sam gave her a smug smile. “Never leave home without it. Best paycheck I ever spent.”

“It’ll take awhile to re-position Big Sister 2 over Metropolis. We could use real time footage now. I don’t want to have to rely on that news feed.”

“Stark just sent over some new tech upgrades. I can relay thermal and x-ray imaging, do you remember the IP address?”

Chloe was busy typing away and she soon had a view of the tower’s polished concrete floor as Sam unpacked and turned Redwing on. “And we’re up.”

::: ::: :::

Redwing had a range of 500 meters, so Sam was perched inside the roof hatch access of the Watchtower dome. The wind was picking up, making it difficult hold his position and control the drone as he needed both arms to use the WiFi wrist amulet control. He was tempted to ask for some rope and a harness to tie in but one glance down told Chloe was unlikely to even break for a second. Through the Bluetooth goggles he could see the feed that Chloe was seeing on her big screens down below. Circumstances meant, no one could spare a moment.

Superman had planned to draw Lex in his battle-suit out of the city. Unfortunately, they hadn't anticipated that Lex had recruited his own team that consisted of Gorilla Grodd, Mirror Master and Cheetah. Bart was tackling Cheetah, but the woman was extremely agile and her claws had made an easy job of shedding his suit and wounding him. He was still in the fight, but he was hurting pretty bad. The vitals relayed by inbuilt biometric monitors from his suit told them that his blood pressure was dropping and his heart rate was spiking even by his normal standard.

Steve had unpacked his suit and snatched up his shield when Grodd had shown up. He was currently running his way to the city center, after catching the subway to Midtown. Chloe shook her head with a twitch to the corner of her lips imagining the picture he would have made riding the train in his Captain America get up.

Victor had registered with the DEO soon after the Act was passed. When he'd seen Mirror Master appear out of a reflective shop window and take a shot at Bart’s exposed back while he fought Cheetah, he’d gone to put on the spare suit he kept at the tower. The cybernetic implant connected to his ocular bio-tech also protected him from mental tampering in the form of mind control or visual illusions. 

Bart’s mask had a lining that interrupted telepathic probing. 

Having Wanda on their team had ensured that Tony had very quickly gone to work at creating technology to counteract her abilities. Steve’s helmet shielded him from mind control too. Something else that would have been handy to have when they’d gone up against Lorelai.

Chloe narrowed her eyes and tightened her fingers into fists, and with a slow exhale, she dragged herself back to the present. There was no use dwelling on what ifs and maybes. They’d survived, a little rough around the edges but in tact. Clark, Steve and Bart, soon to be joined by Victor needed her full focus. She couldn’t afford to get distracted by painful memories.

Grodd took over Clark’s mind and he started randomly destroying buildings, smashing cars, some of them occupied and terrorizing the residents of the city that were in the streets.

Steve’s target was Grodd, as soon as he could take him down, Clark could fight the real enemy. Lex had engineered this fight. Superman refused to ally with any government, saying the few didn’t speak for the many and he had pledged to protect all of mankind. Chloe knew why Lex was doing this. Turn the people against Superman and then best him. She didn’t think his suit was for show. He had referred to the use of Kryptonite on purpose.

The fight was furious when it happened. Her heart in her throat as watched Steve trade blows with a gorilla that dwarfed him in size and Steve was by no means a small guy. Ninety-seven storeys up with no safety mesh to speak of, Chloe almost couldn’t watch. Grodd wrenched the shield free from Steve’s grasp, and smashed him up against the wall of the building’s spire column. 

It was only as Chloe remembered why she was seeing things up close and personal that she remembered that it wasn’t only Clark, Steve and Bart out there.

“Sam?” she whispered touching her comm. piece.

At the moment that Grodd had poised for a smashing blow that would crush Steve’s nose and knock off his only defense against his mind control, Sam made his move. He shot Grodd at close range with multiple darts. 

Steve hadn’t been able to break the gorilla’s hold however and when Grodd toppled back against the ledge and over, Steve went with him.

Clark, a little dazed, put down the bus he’d lifted and after ensuring that everyone on board were unharmed, however shaken, he turned his fury on Lex. His punches were furious when they made contact, sending Lex straight up in the air. Had his suit not been capable of flight, he would have slammed into the ground.

Lex had to know his plans had failed but he refused to back down. He hit Clark with hard light pulses, infused with Kryptonite that had Clark stumbling. Then he used Zero Point energy, tech she knew for a fact that he couldn't have developed himself. SHIELD had a plant within Lexcorp which monitored his projects after what they'd discovered within the confirmed 33.1 site in Atlanta. Lex was up to his old tricks.

Clark wasn't backing down, but Lex wasn't pulling any punches. He was using his protective armor and Zero Point energy to devastating effect. Clark was visibly slowing. And the last time he got up, Chloe could see that he struggled to stand.

Clark’s vision was blurred, his blood boiling and cells decaying almost as quickly as his body could repair them, he could see that the power center to Lex’s suit was much like Tony’s armor. The power fed from a reactor in the triangle placement in his chest plate. Forced to his knees from his wounds and the prolonged effects of the greenK, he used his anger and pain, focusing his heat vision on the glowing piece of armor at the heart of Lex’s chest.

Lex took a step back, faltering in his attack. Missile compartments popped up from his shoulders and he launched them all, leaving Clark unconscious on the ground.

Bart managed to trip Cheetah with her own tail and then knocked her out before he was racing up the side of the building to catch Steve and run them both back to the street level.

Grodd crashed into the hood of a parked car, crumpling the thing almost flat. Bart checked him over straight away. “He’s still with us. How far away are SHIELD?”

“Agent Hill says they’ll be on site in twenty. Secure Grodd with the suppression device and then…”

“Done. And I’ve dropped Cheetah off to MET P.D. for the time being,” Bart interjected.

Chloe shook her head and blinked, surprised that she'd forgotten how responsible and efficient he could be when the situation required it. “Get our boy off the street. You know where to go.”

“And I'll keep the streets clear,” Victor grunted. “Disabled Mirror Master, he’s not punching out this time.” The portal user had a habit of evading everyone at the last second with his clever reflective surface manipulation.

Chloe acknowledge Victor and told him that EMTs and fire crew were on route. She also told him that with Big Sister 2 in position, it revealed that there was one building nearby that’s structural integrity had been compromised. There were people inside that needed to be alerted.

“I’ll deal with Luthor,” Steve said crisply.

A chill raced down as she noted the steely edge in Steve’s voice. She knew from his posture and how he stalked toward Lex that Steve was seriously pissed off. He hated aggressors like Luthor. Men of power, wealth and privilege. Men who could change the world for the better but instead used their position for self gain and to abuse the vulnerable. How many people were injured or dead because of what he’d attempted? And he tried to paint himself as a protector.

Lex fired at him using the same beams he’d directed at Clark, but Steve managed to deflect the hard light attacks but only just managed to evade the ZPE beams. He was wounded from his fight with a gorilla that had the strength of ten normal men, he wasn't at top form and only one pulse had to connect for Lex to have him.

It was a gamble that he was taking trying to get close but watching the feed Chloe knew what he was trying to do. He dodged each blast, the last one only half an inch from his head, until he was within striking distance, then he disabled the gauntlets that controlled the energy bursts. His attack was successful but also put him within Lex’s grasp. One kick sent Steve sailing into the side of a building. It was a miracle he hadn't been knocked out and managed to hang on to his shield, using it to break his fall to the pavement.

Lex stalked over to him and before Steve even had a chance to find his feet, he was flinging Steve about like a rag doll.

Sam’s infrared readings were spiking. Redwing was equipped with tranq. darts but with no available points in Luthor’s armor he couldn’t knock him out. He’d tried for a head shot but the darts had harmlessly bounced off the force field protecting Lex’s visible head.

Chloe looked at the readings and took over secondary controls on Redwing. She focused on where the heat signature was spiking and realized that Clark had compromised the containment integrity of Lex’s power core. 

From the look on Lex’s face, he knew it and didn’t care. He was planning to take them both out. 

“Steve?” she cried in warning. Frantically turning to Lois, she beckoned her with a look. “Take over.”

The few minutes he'd been fighting Lex, Chloe had felt her stomach in knots. She was used to him leaving on missions and fighting in the field, but this was the first time she had a front row seat but she wasn't at his back. She couldn't watch anymore. She used her hand print on a large Renoir painting which revealed a hidden storage chamber. She stepped into the open reinforced battle suit. It was bulky and very obviously made for someone much taller and heavier than herself. But it would serve a purpose as a portable blast proof wall. Bruce had built it for Diana when they'd had a brief thing, to compliment his suit. It was before he'd discovered just how strong and resilient she was. Her endurance riveled Clark’s and while she didn't regenerate the way Clark did, there were very few opponents that had left her in need of outside intervention. The suit had been collecting dust since he'd presented it to her. Diana had offered it to Chloe after Steve’s fight with Metallo. As she waited for the suits internal moldings to adjust to her, she only hoped she could reach her target in time.

::: ::: :::

He heard the fear in her voice and it pulled at his heart. It made him more angry at the fool that was currently using him like a piñata. Lex had made Chloe afraid. His brave, self sacrificing and seemingly fearless wife. He'd make this ego maniac regret that dearly.

A red pulse hit Luthor and rattled him, making him drop Steve briefly. Another red energy blast hit Lex making him fall back, effectively distracting him too. Steve used the opportunity to tear out the hydraulic lines in the armor joints and left Lex immobilized and entombed from the waist down. 

The black and green glow emanating from Luthor’s suit caused him to glance down but Steve didn’t have enough time to do more than get his shield up to protect his chest as the energy release from the broken reactor blew them both a good distance part. 

When he came to Maria was standing on one side of his gurney, and Chloe was on the other. Her face was sooty and she had tear tracks on her cheeks. He must have a concussion because her body looked like it was three sizes too big and looked like an inky moving smudge. His closed his eyes again hoping to clear the haze, his eyelids felt really heavy and his face felt like one massive bruise. His limbs weren't fairing much better, he could barely lift a finger, his body felt like a mass of lead.

Steve reflexively squeezed the hand she had lightly over his and when he opened her eyes, he caught her wince. He glanced down and saw her bruised and bloodied knuckles.

She bit her lip in that way that made his heart beat faster and twinge with pleasure pain in his chest. “I might have broken Lex’s nose. He deserved it,” she said tilting her chin a little higher.

He shivered at the mental image of his little wife taking on Lex in his battle suit and clutched her hand to his chest. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Ditto,” she said softly.

Maria shook her head at their heart-eyes and bundled them into the back of the ambulance. But not before Chloe had stepped out of the remaining armor, leaving it in the street for her to deal with. Or so she thought, until it vanished. She shook her head with a small grin. Impulse. “I’ll see you two at the hospital.”

::: ::: :::

“Three cracked ribs, a hairline skull fracture, bulging disks and a dislocated knee, it’s like Potomac all over again,” Maria said.

Chloe took a steadying breath and brushed the hair from one of the only parts of his face that wasn’t bruised. “I want to punch Lex all over again. Worst he got was a bit of bruising and a some muscle cramps.”

“You forgot the busted up nose,” Sam said with a smile in his voice. 

“Don’t be cute,” Chloe said narrowing her eyes in warning at him. 

Sam shook his head and ignored her glare. “He’s bounced back from worse.”

Maria looked away from the window revealing Steve’s room where he was sleeping and took Chloe by the wrist. “I need to speak to you.”

Chloe nodded. She touched Sam’s elbow. “Can you stay with him a minute? They’re going to take him for an MRI. Just to make sure there’s no swelling or anything else we need to worry about.”

As they entered an unoccupied room, Maria spoke to her in hushed tones. “Phil heard chatter that even if the court clears him, which there’s a very good chance all things considered, the DoD won’t let him walk. I’ve seen schematics of a specialized mobile holding facility. They’re calling it The Raft.”

Chloe curled her fist so hard she heard her knuckles crack, and those bruised tendons protested loudly considering what she’d done only a couple hours earlier. “They learned nothing from Helicarriers falling out of the sky, they think a floating prison is better idea? He’s trusting in the justice system and this is how they’re going to repay that? He gave his life of his country, he had to endure a living hell and...”

“Chlo,” Maria said gently, taking her hand and getting her to relax her fist. “I’m with you. What he went through - what they want from him now - they have no right to ask any more of him. I’m telling you this because there isn’t a lot I can do officially. Phil isn’t in the loop on this either, it's above his clearance. I’m telling you because you have a small window between now and when they finish deliberations to come up with a plan. Something legal but irrefutable. James is a human being with rights. He can’t be forced to do anything against his will, we will make sure of it.”

Chloe grabbed Maria in a tight hug, feeling the taller woman’s arms go around her shoulders with easy grace. A lot more readily than they had in years passed that she remembered of their friendship. Sam was a good influence on her and she said so.

Maria gave her a tiny smirk. “He has his moments. I need to get back, the office has already been on my case. You’ll be okay?”

“I know we will. Thanks for being here and for James.”

“Always,” Maria said with a wink and turned away to walk down the corridor, her black heels making only the softest noise as she breezed away. 

Poise and elegance, wrapped in a deceptive non-threatening, professional and unflappable exterior. She admired her friend for her dedication to her job while showing an unwavering loyalty and support to her friends. It had to be a fine line to walk. She wouldn't forget that she had a lot to thank Maria for. Chloe let out a slow exhale and went returned to join Sam. 

“They've already taken him through,” he said as she approached. He was nursing what was possibly his third coffee. To be fair, none of them had even eaten anything yet. Truth be told, it was the first instance since Lex had made his ultimatum that food had even crossed her mind. “He didn't seem concerned and said if you're tired you should go back to the tower and get some sleep.”

Chloe snorted indelicately. “As if I could sleep with the state he's in.”

Almost an hour later a somber looking doctor approached them and he introduced his colleague which happened to be a specialist by the identification tag pinned to her coat pocket.

Selena Vasquez, M.D. Neurosurgery 

Reflectively, Chloe reached for Sam’s arm and he put his hand over hers and put his free arm around her shoulders when he noticed the doctor’s credentials too.

“What’s wrong? He seemed fine, he was awake and talking and…”

“I wasn't able to determine any conclusive results myself,” the doctor, Dr. Ross Hunter explained. “Which is why I requested a second opinion. The MRI scans revealed shadows on his brain tissue that were a concern. Dr. Vasquez ran through some tests and then took your husband for an fMRI. That's where things got a bit more confusing. Physically he has all the normal control and function you’d expect. I'm not sure what he was exposed to, or the severity of his fall but it has impacted his brain in such a way that it has only affected his emotional and memory responses.”

“Mrs. Rogers, we would like to keep him for observation to determine if his blood pressure changes, or if the shadowing could indicate bleeds or bruising on his brain that could require surgery,” Dr. Vasquez explained. “And we’d like to run more tests, an EEG and a CT scan with your permission.”

“You said physically his responses have been normal and his blood pressure is normal. I'd like to hold off on anymore testing until he's had a chance to rest properly. I think quiet and a non-stressful environment is what's best for him right now,” Chloe pressed.

Both doctors seems disappointed with her response but submitted to her stance. Dr. Hunter held out his tablet. “Please sign here saying that you wish to postpone any further treatment. It's a waiver. Hospital procedure.”

“If you're going to relinquish liability because I won't let you poke and bother him some more then I'm taking him home,” Chloe insisted. Sam looked about to protest but Chloe silenced him with a look.

Dr. Vasquez was bristling with irritation although her face only revealed a forced calm exterior. Chloe didn't care. Something was nagging at the back of her mind that Steve’s condition sound familiar but she couldn't figure it out with these two doctors hovering, and keen to play Guinea pig on Steve to figure out his brain anomaly.

At the nurses’ station filling out all his release paperwork, Sam had brought the van around with a gurney in the back to transport Steve back to the tower. If anything she could always call Jemma or Emil for a consult. She'd only taken him to Metro Medical because she'd wanted him to have immediate attention and trying to speed him anywhere when they weren't sure what state he was in could have done more harm than good.

It wasn't till a few days later that Steve’s problem became clearer and she finally figured out what had been nagging at her.

Reviewing evidence collected by SHIELD with Lex in custody, Chloe almost collapsed in shock when she realized what they'd missed.

Black Kryptonite.

Clark had used his heat vision on Lex’s power cell. The power cell had been created using raw meteor rock. When the reactor core had been compromised, it had exploded releasing energy from the broken housing. Black Kryptonite energy.

Normally the black rock would only affect Kryptonians, splitting them into opposing personalities. But if it was converted into energy, it could also affect humans. Clark had told her years ago how it had affected Lex. Had Lex remembered what had happened in the past and deliberately baited Clark into fighting him. Hoping to expose him to Black Kryptonite? To what end. To release an evil uncontrollable doppelgänger? For what purpose?. Hadn't he already tried that once?

Then another fact came to mind. The labs they had rescued Kara from. The file.

The yin and yang project. He’d been profiling individuals; monitoring statistics, behavioral reports and general health evaluations. They hadn’t been able to find any people matching the DNA profiles in the paperwork they’d recovered. The captives they’d rescued from the lab hadn’t been subject to the projects testing. Whatever Lex had been dabbling in, aside from the paperwork, they had no prosecutable evidence.

Chloe felt a cold shudder go through her body. What if Clark hadn't been the real target? 

She combed the footage both street cameras and Redwing had collected, she watched the explosion but instead of looking at where she knew Steve had fallen, she looked for signs of any other bodies. Sure enough, across the street, there was another boot that matched Steve’s exactly. Men in ski masks and unmarked black uniforms jumped out of a dark van and bundled the other unconscious Steve into the back.

Limbs frozen she gripped the desk and stared unblinking at the footage. It only took her a second to snap out of her shock and run the plates. It was a dead end. They had been reported stolen two months ago.

Snatching up her keys, she told Samantha to call Lois. Her cousin had gone home after hovering over Clark till he regained consciousness once Emil had extracted all the greenK fragments. Samantha was the learning operating system she'd created one obscenely long winter, years ago, after watching the film Her. She'd never tell him, but she also might have borrowed a few strings of code from Tony’s AI J.A.R.V.I.S.

Once she was in the van, Chloe called Maria. “I need a favor. Lex has information I need but this can't go on record.” She could imagine Maria’s eye roll and anticipated the heavy sigh.

“Give me an hour to work something out. If you can get in and out the usual way, I might be able to make this happen.”

“Tell me the location and time, I'll cover the rest.”

Four hours later, fresh bruises on her knuckles and emotionally strung out from doing something she never wanted to do again, she had spent ten minutes in the bathroom after Bart sped her back to the tower, hugging the toilet. For once her churning stomach had nothing to do with his forced inertia.

She had emotionally bullied Lex into telling her what he'd done. She had made him experience her worst nightmares till he was crying and trembling, begging her to stop but she hadn't let up till he'd haltingly told her that he'd made a deal with an anonymous party to use his research to duplicate Steve in return for access to the alien technology that SHIELD had recovered from Kang’s failed envision. Unless there was some under the table deal he'd failed to mention, where his unnamed partners in crime planned to bail him out once he got caught, Chloe actually felt a little sorry for him. It looked like Lex had been set up to fail so that their plans would succeed.

The smell in the room when she'd sped out, including the look of disappointment on Bart’s face when they'd made it safely back to the tower had made her sick with self loathing. 

While she knew the why now, she still didn't know the who. Only that SHIELD had been infiltrated yet again, despite all it’s secrets left exposed to the world, it's Hydra conspirators being apprehended and basically having been rebuilt from the ground up. 

**A week ago, Hydra Bunker, undisclosed location**

In an underground facility, Rumlow took the blackout hood off an unconscious Cap’s head. They had removed his helmet and he was still bloodied and bruised. No one had cared to address his wounds. They had him shackled into the metal treatment chair that had once belonged to the Winter Soldier. If it could hold down a bionically enhanced, Hydra serum infused soldier, than it should be sufficient to hold an American serum infused, not mechanically-enhanced soldier.

“Let see how well you do with the same treatment as you pal, your buddy, your Bucky.” He signaled one of his fellow cohorts, who stuck Steve with a electro-rod against his broken ribs. Waking him up but also forcing his head back in the treatment chair so that they could snap the neck collar in place to keep his head in position.

Steve yelled awake and fixed Rumlow with a narrowed glare, his blue eyes glistening with cold hatred.

“So he has a dark side,” Rumlow said with a smirk.

A technician fixed the apparatus around Steve’s head and tried to offer him a mouth bite to protect his tongue and teeth. Steve nearly snapped his fingers clean off.

“Don't say we didn't offer when you need dental work later,” his ex-STRIKE partner mocked with a laugh.

His jaw snapped together and his eyes rolled back when the electricity surged through his head. He fought to hang on to his anger, anything, but after the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes seemed to bleed into forever, Steve blacked out.


	2. Splintered Psyche

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe hasn't stopped looking for the Steve that was stolen from them. She's tapped every ally, resource and contact she has. A break comes from the most unexpected source. To get Steve back, she's going to have to swallow her pride and make a deal with a devil in red neoprene.

**Las Vegas strip**

_Do it. Do it now, while you still have enough rational sense and strength of will to get it done._ Her stomach clenched and not just because his nimble fingers had unzipped her jacket and his hands worked her blouse free, as his warm calloused palms played havoc with the nerve endings across her bared skin.

The familiar scent of him was heavy in the air. There was a raw energy that touched her skin and surrounded her, pressing in, shrouding her with his aura. There was an edge to him, something that prickled at her awareness and her flight and danger instincts. He felt powerful but she had always understood that. It was in his physique. This was more, she felt it, saw it in his eyes. This was something new. It was primal and raw. Without restraint and aided by the super serum, Steve was dangerous. Those blue eyes had a depth and piercing quality that spoke of single-minded intent. She'd never felt like prey to him but she wondered now if this was what it felt like to have the focus of the Soldier's attention. To be an obstacle in the way of whatever mission he had to complete. She wasn't his enemy, but how would he react if he discovered that she was to betray her word never to use her skills against him. That her plan was to cut short his one-man vendetta against Hydra and all those he considered accomplices by association.

Warm breath bathed her throat before soft lips and straight teeth nipped at the delicate skin he'd exposed when he'd rent the buttons from her shirt in his haste to have access to more if her.

Chloe carded her fingers over the closely shorn fuzz of his hair. Inwardly she mourned the loss of his beautiful soft blond waves. It was almost gone. His beard matched the length of his hairstyle but as his bristles and lips chased conflicting sensations of gentle and rough friction to her brain, she forgot why she cared. Her heart rate spiked and she found it difficult to even drag air into her lungs. This was the side of Steve she rarely saw in the bedroom. A few occasions after a mission came to mind - hers or his when there had been a near miss, or dire circumstances, (such as the mission in Metropolis against members of the Injustice League or before the Champions' Arena…) and she missed his meticulous heated touch. Adjusting to the baffling case that was the meek, gentle and anti-confrontational Steve, who blushed every time she kissed him in public, to having this man, whose touch was welcome and familiar yet colored with unmistakable boldness and desire, she couldn't bring herself to end it - to do her job.

"Steve, honey, we need…" she murmured as a last ditch attempt to cling to sanity.

He growled in the back of his throat and sucked on her shoulder leaving a red mark, before he raised his head and kissed her deeply, possessively, stealing her breath away. "We don't need anything but this," he said shamelessly grinding their hips together. He pushed her into the window with his bulk and ran his hands up her thighs, dragging her skirt hem with it. With one hand he unbuckled his belt and popped his button and lowered his zipper. His tongue thrust into her mouth the same time he entered her smoothly, with no restraint until he was seated deeply.

Chloe felt her vision blur with the feel of him. It felt like it had been a lifetime since she'd had him. She could probably count the days. After years of being apart, any distance was torture and she had been without this for weeks.

His lips formed smirked of triumph against her skin as he felt her broken cry of euphoria and boneless surrender.

::: ::: :::

**Earlier**

Learning that black Kryptonite had split Steve into yin yang halves of one whole had made her more than a little crazy. She'd tasked the disbanded Justice League to use every moment they could spare in helping her chase leads to find the other half of her Steve.

It has taken three weeks but finally they'd sourced a solid lead instead of simply the aftermath of destruction and bodies he'd left in his wake. The facility where they held Steve the night he'd been taken was a dead end. Bart had found nothing but a pile of smouldering ash. They discovered bones that were later ID'd as missing Hydra agent, Brock Rumlow. His sternum shattered in so many pieces that they hadn't found them all and his right arm was broken in several places. With the state of the bones, the ME had concluded that if he hadn't died before the fire, he'd died a slow and agonising death from severe internal injuries and asphyxiation. The fire which had been fueled by multiple chemical compounds and oxygen tanks had burned hot enough to melt steel.

"You're not going to like the source but we might not have a choice but to use him," Maria said, her lips thin and her jaw tight as she handed Chloe the file she'd lifted from her briefcase.

Chloe flipped open the SHIELD dossier to the first page and skimmed the contents. Just a glance at his Index picture and she had to stifle a groan of frustration. She closed her eyes against the snapshot of a smug-looking, bald man, crossing his eyes and trying to touch his tongue to his nose. How he made wearing his hood as a beanie into a fashion statement was just part of the reason his profile screamed immaturity and unreliable at best. "No, you've got to be kidding me. Isn't there someone else? Anyone?"

Maria shook her head. "That bar is deep into their territory. Nick had a way in but knowing Fury, his in was probably Wade. They have a rapport."

Chloe cursed and dropped the file onto the table top. She didn't have to read past the cover page. Where Steve had been sighted and by whom was documented there and she didn't have to assess the attached source material to know she was more than reluctant to call in the contact.

Maria nodded once and put the folder back in her briefcase. "I'll set up a meeting. I can be the primary on this, if you prefer."

Chloe shook her head and groaned, hugging her arms around her stomach. "It was going to happen eventually. This is strictly to find Steve. I'm not going to tell him anything about the DNA match. He wouldn't be interested to know he had a fathered a child who carbon dates older than him. And I don't need another disappointing father figure in my life."

Wade Wilson was chatty. He made Bart seem introverted by comparison. He created a persona as a mercenary called Deadpool. Though he probably had several aliases in his colorful past. Right now he was straddling the fence between slimeball jock and drug mule boss. He oozed confidence that stank of arrogance and the lopsided toothy grin he kept flashing Maria and herself as he took in their club attire made her roll her eyes for the umpteenth time. His unprofessionalism and bratty behavior aside, he'd made good on the arrangement to see them safely inside the club and promised that his contact had sighted Steve as recently as yesterday. He was asking after someone. A politician's nephew, a guy that seemed to be a regular.

Maria made her way to the upper level where there were pool tables, a roulette wheel and poker areas set up. She had full view of the dance floor and the bar from up there. Across the way was the manager's office and a VIPs lounge. Chloe took a bar stool at a quiet end of the bar while Wade was making full use of his new 'face'. The price he'd extracted for helping them was the Photostatic Veil or nano-mask, as it was more commonly known. Security gates had been upgraded to detect the technology now as per SHIELD spec but the upgraded versions were undetectable with new micron-vibranium coating on each nano-bead that made up the photo-projection component and web-thin weave of the mask.

For the last four years following the inhumane experimentation and subsequent mutation, Wade Wilson had only been able to show his face in non-judgmental circles. He preferred to wear a mask even at home so he wouldn't put off his fiancée, even though she regularly kissed his cancer riddled skin and loved him openly. Despite his murderous impulses and his unpredictable, sarcastic and psychotic behavior, he remained a free agent. SHIELD tried to keep him on a leash, had even locked him up a few times. He always got out. No one liked watching the surveillance footage. Things the man did to his own body. Chloe shuddered. So they made a deal with Vanessa, that as his partner she could be solely responsible for her fiance, to be a handler of sorts. Her job was to curb his erratic and unlawful behavior to the unsavories. Provided he didn't go completely rogue, SHIELD would stop arresting him. Even the Raft hadn't been able to contain him. They weighed the costs and trauma, deciding it was better to keep him tagged and on the outside than trying to keep him locked up and hidden.

Maria and Chloe had debated with Phil for hours over whether giving him back his face was worth the cost in the long term. He wouldn't get the programming software or the computer to perform mask upgrades. He would however have active and non-activated functionality only with his own uncorrupted DNA as the preprogrammed upload.

His smarmy, self-assured smirk and his insane quirky banter of self narration aside, Wade performed his part to the letter. The bouncer waved them through and Wade escorted them to the bar weaving them through a press of bodies gyrating to a blaring beat and overhead pulsing lights. The thick crowd and loud music was a perfect cover for illicit business transactions to take place in obscurity.

Chloe noticed him the moment he walked in. Her heart skipped a beat before muscles in her chest tightened painfully and she forgot to breathe. He was dressed like Clark's Kal persona and for a moment she was fifteen again. Watching her best friend drink and throw money around like it grew on trees, while his parents were miles away back on the farm worried sick over his whereabouts, medical and utility bills threatening to bankrupt them. Steve wasn't a teenager on a rebellious binge however, and she wasn't a BFF nursing a secret crush.

She felt him more than heard him and fought the instinct to put distance between them. After getting them inside, Wade was supposed to become her invisible back up. Her oblivious, absentee and only recently discovered biological father. Imagine meeting your father after more than hundred years, and still not disclosing that fact because he really didn't need to know and he had plenty of his own problems, both physical and psychological that most professionals classed him as a certified psychotic. Hairs bristled on every inch of her skin as she acknowledged not for the first time that there was hard proof that losing one's mind was in her DNA.

Lois still snorted in disbelief when she made passing remarks over her genetic risks of mental illness. She loved her cousin to bits but Lois had a habit of tuning out truths she didn't want to hear them.

Gabe Sullivan might have walked away from both her mother and later herself when he couldn't handle the truth of her abilities, but to her knowledge, he was still happily married to his second wife, and had adopted his current wife's two very normal, non-mutant children. He was a production manager at a pharmaceutical company in northern California. He was living the American dream. The surveillance pictures of the pretty two-storey at one end of a suburban cul-de-sac with a white picket fence sealed the cliche.

Steve had yet to notice her. He was listening with one ear as a raven haired woman hung off his arm and whispered in his ear.

Chloe fought down the urge to stride over and rake her nails over the woman's milky white skin. There was plenty of it on display.

"That must rankle something awful. Is he an ass or a breast man? Because that minx's got the latter in spades but her ass, she should have chosen a different dress if she wanted help highlighting those mangoes."

"What is it with you and fruit?" she hissed under her breath without looking at him.

"Tasty and everyone understands the reference. Some pop culture quips tend to get lost on the uncultured droids of this generation. What do you say, Goldilocks? You makin' a move or are you going to hope your Bolt powers are going to laser vision her?"

Chloe picked up her empty tumbler and smacked it down on his hand.

"And ow," he whined.

_"POI spotted, my eight o'clock. Stay on primary. I've got her. Wilson, stay with Sully."_

Maria's curt mission tone kept them all on point and Chloe voiced her affirmative. She watched as Maria expertly weaved her way through the throng of the dance floor for the stairs that lead to the upper landing for VIPs. Before the stairs, Maria grabbed a bottle of wine and two classes from a nearby table and continued her way up. Chloe felt Wade drift away from her, only to startle when he was slammed into the bar next to her seconds later.

"Looking pretty, Wilson but I can fix that? What are you doing with my wife?"

Wade snorted and put his hands up in surrender. "I'm buying the lady a drink but she said she was waiting on someone else. No harm no foul, right?"

Steve narrowed his eyes at Wade clearly disbelieving his intentions but turned his eyes on Chloe. His eyes raked over her and the heat of his stare sent her pulse racing and a wash of pinpricks from her toes to her breasts. His eyes riveted her. She was pinned in place. "Did you follow me here?"

His steely tone made her shiver. She wouldn't lie to him. "Yes."

A sudden screeching of feedback in her ear had her wincing in pain. The ringing took a second to clear and her eyes scanned for the source. Maria stood on the upper level. She had a wooden, unnaturally still posture and she stood facing Agent 13 who was curled against a man in a tailored suit with thick dark hair. He was saying something to Maria but Chloe couldn't see his face clearly to read his lips. But she understand something was very wrong when the couple turned to leave and Maria let them. Instead of pulling her hidden SIG and turning it in their direction, she made a very different move.

Steve threw them over the bar in one sweep, narrowly avoiding the hail of bullets that riddled the spot they'd just been. Wade shouted back that he'd take care of Maria. Chloe hoped he understood that his arrangement with them hadn't changed. If he did lasting damage to her friend, she'd do worse than destroy his mask. She'd drop him hog-tied on Charles Xavier's front doorstep for intense therapy and incarceration.

Crawling behind the cover the bar provided, they exited through the kitchen and into the back alley in time to see Agent 13 and her escort hustle into a waiting limo and speed off.

"You blew my cover," he said angrily.

"I blew it? You didn't have to approach me." She bristled at the insinuation that she couldn't do her job and blend in. She was wearing a long wig, with full make up and dressed in get up that she had to borrow from Lois, she didn't known anything so short. She never thought she had the legs for it, but teamed with six-inch heels, it worked.

"You, Hill, you're together hence you're responsible. Agent 13 is linked to Hydra, which means he's linked to Hydra. That limo has diplomatic plates, at least that's another lead. Now let's go."

"You're letting me come with you?" She couldn't believe their luck. Then again, a small part of her was shaking her head at her doubts. With all they'd been through, and how much she loved him and how much he loved her, even with half functioning psyche, their relationship and importance to each other couldn't have diminished. The rational part of her however continued to wonder why he hadn't made contact. Those doubts made her slow her steps, and though she was sure her reluctance in following him was subtle it must have been felt.

Steve shot her a dark look, his eyes trailing over her outfit. "I'm not leaving you here looking like that," he growled, his voice rough and impatient.

Chloe bristled at his tone and had a strong inclination to stand her ground. In two strides he had her in his arms and pressed up against the wall, his lips devouring hers in a searing kiss that flamed her hunger for him in a heartbeat. Her body craved him and being in his arms, all she could think of was staying there. She'd been without him too long.

Her brain foggy she barely remembered climbing onto the back of his bike and clinging to his waist before he was tearing down the road.

::: ::: :::

**Present**

Awareness came back slowly. Her limbs felt heavy and her movements sluggish.

"I thought your recovery rate rivaled mine, baby." His voice was slightly mocking, tinged with irritation, but not exactly directed at her. She could feel frustration and impatience rolling off him.

Chloe blinked and made to sit up now that she was fully awake. She found she couldn't, because her wrists where zipped tied to the wrought iron headboard. "Kinky," she snarked with little humor. The desire still lingered but his darker mood swamped anything else. He was leaving. "I'm not much good to you stuck over here," she said watching his profile at the window, he watched the street below through the binds.

"The distraction cost me. I lost the signal at the airport. They must have found the tracker I planted earlier in his bag. I need to go to the airfield and see what I can find but I couldn't leave you out of it."

"But tied up is fine?" At least he'd planned on leaving her conscious and clothed. She was braless and panty-less but her skirt was on and her torn blouse hand been tied closed over her breasts. She reamed herself out silently for letting her emotions and needs get in the way of her objective. If she lost Steve here, Maria would never forgive her and she wouldn't forgive herself either. She'd chosen to go with Steve while Maria was in trouble knowing that he was the objective, and that Maria wouldn't want her to lose him. The guilt that she'd compromised the mission by sleeping with Steve instead of subduing or persuading him to come with her was starting to cloud her mind.

Chloe watched him with narrowed eyes. "Steve, you're not yourself. You know that what Lex did in Metropolis wasn't just to bait Superman. It was meant to draw us all out. It was meant to draw you out. You need to come with me. Emil will help us."

"There's nothing wrong with me, Sully. I've put off doing this for long enough. Bucky suffered because I didn't put Hydra down before. I need to go after the money and the power players. Without influence and resources, we'll finally cut off enough heads."

"I read the report on Rumlow. The beating wasn't enough, you probably burnt him alive. Hydra conditioning compartmentalized pain but it doesn't mean the body doesn't feel it," she said the memory of her own torture making her shudder visibly and her voice crack as she spoke. The only hint she had that Steve felt anything at her words was the clenching of his jaw and the tightening of his fist. The flash of pain at the change in her voice was so quick she blinked, believing she might have imagined it.

He turned his face to hers and it was a cold mask. "You would have used it if I hadn't touched you first, don't deny it," he said nodding at the bracelet he had taken off her wrist.

Chloe felt a fission of fear. She hadn't even realized it was gone. It was on the side table. Out of her hands reach. Her gaze flew to her stiletto clad feet. With all their horizontal tango, they had not come off. If fact he'd insisted she keep them on. He'd grunted something along the lines of 'sexy...hardly wear them...extra curves'. What he'd said the past couple hours were a blur, what he'd done, well her brain and body were insisting on reminding her in vivid and sensitive detail. She shifted to ease the ache between her legs and she saw a slow smug smirk alight his face

"Never been the love 'em, leave 'em type but sorry babe. I can't afford the beautiful distraction you are, and I also can't afford to lose you. My enemies are deadly dangerous." He made to leave.

"Steve, don't do this. Don't disappear." He didn't so much as pause as he snatched up his duffel bag, helmet and keys. "I'll find you again."

"Don't make me test the limits of your healing ability. I'd hate to give that gorgeous body of yours more scars. Those legs are perfect right now. They never touched your legs."

 _No_ , Chloe thought. They'd only broken and burned her feet. So she wouldn't run and as incentive when James was uncooperative. She shivered again.

He looked at her once more as he opened the door. "Let me go, Sully. I won't stop until they're dead and gone. All of 'em."

The separation had severed any restraint and remorse Steve would normally have. The eager to please, compassionate, and fearful half of Steve was with Emil, with Clark running interference over her whereabouts. No doubt going on eighteen hours she had last seen him, he'd be a giant ball of anxiety about now and fretting over her lack of communication. She hadn't exactly been completely transparent about what she was going to do to locate his wayward half. Not had she detailed just how much of his character was fractured. In the days after the event, subsequent scans had revealed just how bad the black Kryptonite blast had effected his cells and largely his brain tissue. The dark areas were spreading and the last MRI showed that the blood vessels in the brain were revealing determination. If they didn't merge them soon, both Steves would die from a massive aneurysm. It also for that reason that she had hoped to keep Steve from as little dress as possible that could possibly raise his blood pressure. So much for that. Where was the good intention in what she'd spent the last two hours doing with this Steve?

"No goodbye kiss?" she asked, hoping she'd kept the panic of losing him out of her voice.

Steve grinned and it had no warmth. He blew her a kiss from the door and then closed it after himself.

Chloe sunk against the headboard and dropped her head back to the wall. She toed off her shoes and yanked at her jacket that was on the floor. Scooting it across the bed covers she pulled out her phone and speed dialed Bart.

"I planted a tracker on him. My Watchtower access code is our anniversary. Tracker serial number Alpha, Sigma, Whiskey, Zero, 9, 7, 4, 3, Zero. Knock him out and take him back to S.T.A.R Labs Metropolis. Emil's waiting. Clark delivered a shard of black K already. Keep him under and in containment until I get there

"You're going Omega Threat level on him?" Bart sounded uncertain and breathless. He'd probably already entered Watchtower.

Chloe didn't like the idea of rough handling and sedating Steve, but she couldn't risk losing him. There wasn't any time left on the clock. His physiology was too unstable. "I'm doing this because he didn't give me any other option. I'm heading there now."

"Logging in. See you at the Lab."

::: ::: :::

Chloe caught the Clark Express, once she checked in with Maria and Wade. As they'd originally briefed, he'd made sure she was alive and mostly unscathed.

"She was fighting to go after you two like a hellcat in heat. Minimal damage," he said with a shrug.

Maria had an ice pack to the back of her head and her wrist was strapped to her chest. "Dislocated shoulder." Her tone was noncommittal but her expression was pinched and Chloe could feel the pain she was trying not to show. "Is he safe?"

Chloe chewed her lip before answering. "I almost blew the mission."

"Ah, she screwed the mission," Wade snorted with a leer.

Chloe glare at him. "I planted a tracker on his bike and in his belt." Steve loved belts. The only outfit he didn't couple with one of his many belts was his gym pants and perhaps that was only because the fabric wouldn't support it even if loops could be sown in. His resting pose was holding his belt buckle and that hadn't changed with the split. He had one thumb in his belt while he'd been lounging at the bar. The tracker was almost as small as a microdot and was powered by kinetic energy. So long as he was moving, it would transmit.

One call and Clark had whooshed her away leaving behind an open mouthed Wade who'd seen a cape and the hint of a golden S before they disappeared. Maria later told her that he wouldn't shut up about being Superman's biggest fan and he was so glad that he hadn't left Earth to party-pop-pants Waller, creepy Vandal Savage and real scary psycho crazies like Deathstroke and Stryker (both of them, father and son). Anyone who likes to mind taper or experiment on mutants was on Deadpool's naughty list. Names didn't stay unchecked on that list for long. He'd almost put Rogers on that list for beating him to a few marks and taking away his chance to interrogate them, before retiring them. He made Maria swear that Chloe wouldn't hear that part, since she was obviously sweet on that Captain.

"Oh they're shackled in wedded bliss? Do I get extra Brownie points for helping reunite lovebirds? Frowny face means no, okay then…"

::: ::: :::

It was disarming to watch dark!Steve size himself up. And Chloe's fingers itched to activate the pulse submission collar when it looked like he might lunge for the quiet!Steve who was watching him nervously from the corner.

"Why do I get the dog color and twitchy over there gets free roam?"

Chloe pushed the intercom button. "He never killed anyone. And it's for your own safety. The chemical reaction that separated you was extremely volatile and the results are unstable. If you'd bothered to stick around and listen, I would have explained how grave your situation is. You're going to die, Steve. You're a ticking bomb. You might think taking Hydra down is all that matters but you won't achieve anything if you're dead. And without us backing you up, you would be handing them your body to further their research and no one would even know where to start looking to put a stop to it."

That got him to pause. He scowled at her and stalked to the glass. "He's holding me back. You all are."

"You really believe that?" she asked softly, unable to keep the hurt from her voice. They always swore to each other that the mission came first. Yes, there were obvious examples of when she had failed in that but it was deeply ingrained in who they were that they'd always try to protect others and save the world. Choosing to do the right thing wasn't easy and they'd made sacrifices greater than most would ever have to endure. "If being with me is holding you back, you know I wouldn't stand in your way. Steve, I know how much making this world safer, making people like Pierce, Rumlow, Madam Viper and Dr. Zola pay for what they did to Bucky…"

"What they did to you," he added with a deep growl, his eyes narrowed and thin band of luminescent red burned around the edges of his tight pupils.

Chloe put her hand to the glass. "Zola, Pierce and Rumlow are dead. Ultron killed Strucker and Viper died years ago in a freak fire. Taking down the heads that took their place is going to take time you don't have if we don't fix you first."

Steve put his head against the glass where her hand was, she wondered if he could feel her trying to reach him even though he was missing the emotional centers of the brain she hoped to engage. As it was, all she could do was soothe the intensity of the ones he did have. Frustration and rage foremost.

"He's weak. His love for you makes him- look at him! He looks scared of his own shadow. How can he be afraid of me? I'm him, the darker more honest parts of my soul."

Chloe inched closer still so she could look up into his eyes as his head was bowed, pressed to the glass. "I've seen and felt the rage in you. This part of you. The only thing that scares me right now is losing you. Don't let me lose you, Steve. I only just got you back remember," her voice broke and she felt hot tears trail down her cheeks.

"Do it then. All this emotional, sentimental crap is wasting time. Time I needed to track down 13. She's with that Russian and I know he's not just a politician's rich brat. So get on with it."

Chloe looked over her shoulder for Emil and he had the modified ray gun ready.

"Clark, you might want to clear Chloe and Bart out, just in case. Chloe you can drop the shield to the containment remotely from my lab. You can monitor from their too."

A minute later Chloe watched as Emil fired the gun at the two Steves who reluctantly held hands. When the purple light faded, only one Steve remained, and he was groggily shedding layers of clothing like a snake. He hated too many layers, always running warm with the serum, he'd overheat quickly.

"Dr. Hamilton? Why am I here and where's Chloe? Is Lex in custody?"

"It's been weeks, Steve. There were side effects to the blast you took when Lex's power core exploded. His suit shielded him but you took a direct hit. It split your cells. You've been two entities for the past couple weeks. We only just tracked the other half of you down," Emil explained.

Chloe knew there was no hiding the fact she'd just been crying and she felt Steve's dread and devastation at the sight the second he caught her running into the room.

Clark took the lead lined box from Emil after he'd removed the radioactive rock the ray gun. Chloe nodded and said her thanks to both of them as she disengaged the containment field and raised the glass of the cell.

"What did I do?" Steve asked as he reached for her offered hand as he climbed down the short steps.

"Rumlow's dead and you destroyed a Hydra cell base. Wade Wilson might know more, he was the one that gave us intel on your movements. We will debrief at S.H.I.E.L.D." Chloe handed him a bottle of water for a lab station that he'd been subtle in eyeing and watched him drink it down in three swallows. He was probably hungry too but the lab didn't have much in the way of food, except for the vending machine in the main lobby which she wouldn't hunt down. Nothing was going to pry her from Steve anytime soon.

"Are you all right?" he asked squeezing her hand. Their interacted fingers tightened together and she squeezed back. The relief and love he had for her was palpable when she went to him readily. Holding his face, she kissed him lightly and rested their heads together.

"I am now that you're safe. I don't know what I would have done if you'd died before I could get to you."

"All I remember is fighting Lex and how hot the shield got before I blacked out. The Vibranium felt different. There's a hum and when it absorbs impact, I feel the hum in my skin, this time it felt off. Did you find the shield?"

Chloe shook her head and looked at Emil. "We never tested it. It would have split too right? The surveillance showed Steve being taken away fully dressed, an exactly copy."

Emil tapped the pen in his hand against the desk. A thinking tick. "We didn't think to ask the other Steve where his shield was. It wasn't found in the wreckage of the bunker where they held him after the accident. But I can run tests on the one we have an compare the data to what we have on Vibranium."

"Howard created the shield with an alloy composite. It's the only one of its kind. Although SHIELD probably has something on file." Steve ran a hand through his hair. "The sooner we debrief, the sooner we can go home. I feel like every time we head to this part of the country, disaster strikes."

Chloe looped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him lightly. "Oh I don't know," she said with a soft smile. "My last birthday in Metropolis I got to tell everyone that we were dating. And you got me that super expensive wrap."

"A stole," he said with a teasing light in his eyes and a growing smile. "Can't put a price tag on that smile of yours, beautiful."

Emil coughed exaggeratedly. Loathed to break up the endearing lovefest but eager to reclaim his work space. "Before you go, I never got a chance to discuss your test results before you went tearing off looking for Steve."

Chloe frowned. After the street alteration with Lex and Steve's hospitalization, Emil had everyone submit to a standard post-Mission physical. "I thought everything was normal. You never gave any indication that there was anything to worry about."

"Well there wasn't. It's normal for woman to go through these changes and hormone fluctuations. It wasn't till Clark asked me something when he dropped you off that I remembered I hadn't spoken to you about those results." He looked embarrassed and Chloe felt a flash of sadness. He took a beat to clear his expression, his professional manner quickly falling into place. "I know since you've been with SHIELD that Dr. Simmons has been your doctor but she has called for a consult on the rare occasion that she has questions or concerns. And I had your data from when you were under last year, well several decades for you, probably not all that current now and I'm digressing. My expertise is valid, I've been looking at meta DNA and the meteor infected a lot long than she has after all."

"What are you saying, doc?" Steve pressed his voice belying his impatience and his face anxiously strained.

"Your test results showed elevated progesterone. Higher than post ovulation. So I could do another test to be sure…"

Chloe suspected where he was going with this and her heartbeat frantically in her chest. She felt a ripple, barely a flutter in her stomach and clutched at Steve's hand tighter, breathless and nervous about what Emil would say next. Even if she was, there was no guarantees. Her hopes and fears both hung on his next words.

"According to the Hgh test, I would put you at 14 weeks now."

Chloe blinked and tried to calm the trembling of her body. Steve squeezed her hand and tugged her closer. She felt his confusion. He probably didn't know what Hgh meant but from the expression on his face, and the spark of hope in his eyes she knew he was making a tentative educated guess.

"You're…"

"Pregnant?" she finished for him, her voice small and brittle. She gave him a shaky smile. "I have sensitive boobs and my sense of smell has been off but I thought the nausea was just a queasiness left over from when I had food poisoning a couple weeks ago." Tears flooded her eyes and her hands shook, before the tremors overtook her whole body.

Steve wrapped her in a tight embrace and pressed kisses into her hair. "Breathe, honey." He glanced over at Emil. "What do we need to do?"

She felt his concern and it escalated her own worries. Chloe clutched him, and curled her fingers in soft fabric of his polo shirt. It was the top that quiet!Steve had been wearing. The only traces of assassin dark!Steve were in a pile of black leather and charcoal jeans back in the containment cell. She felt a twist of guilt in her stomach at the memory of that jacket on the floor of a seedy motel room.

"It's not uncommon for women to have lighter periods throughout pregnancy. My late wife did with both of her pregnancies, one of which she carried to term."

Chloe was surprised. "You have a child?" She knew that Emil had lost his wife a long time before he ever started working for S.T.A.R and decades before he ever got poached by Oliver as a private on-call medical practitioner. That he had a child no one knew anything about was a shock.

Emil smiled and shrugged one shoulder. "Never came up, and I've always kept my private life, somewhat separate. He lives in London and teaches Biophysics for King's College."

She had to concede that was true about most of their team. Everyone had their everyday alter-egos and secret lives. She didn't begrudge Emil his privacy and wanting to protect the ones he loved from the exposure and risk.

"I'd recommend getting an ultrasound and another set of bloods taken so we can check hormone count and also your mineral levels, Chloe. Other than that it's a waiting game like every other regular couple expecting a baby. Just keep hydrated, stick to your normal physical routine and stay healthy."

Steve nodded along in understanding while Chloe remained silent and unmoved. She chewed her bottom lip lost in her thoughts and worries.

"Hey, it's going to be fine. We just roll with it like we do everything else." Steve rubbed her arms, but even with his warmth she couldn't stop the goosebumps forming and the cold that gripped her heart. "Chloe, love?"

Her knees buckled and Steve effortlessly scooped her up in his arms and walked them to a chair. He sat down and brushed her hair back, cradling her face. "Talk to me, Angel?"

Chloe felt the sting of tears as fear and guilt crushed her chest. "People died, Steve. I didn't get to you quick enough and…"

"Hey, hush. You did the best you could. And I didn't spend months working with Buck to start a guilt ridden bender myself," he joked lightly.

She didn't share his humor. "Bucky was brainwashed."

Steve frowned. "I don't know what I did. I don't remember. And I don't remember what they might have done when they took me either."

Her hand trembled when she touched his wrist where his hand still held her face. "You knew me. Enough to want to keep me out of the way."

Steve's face clouded and his touch stiffened, his apprehension and anger at himself building. "Did I hurt you?"

Chloe's eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently. "No, never!" She blushed then as she remembered the tenderness and ache from the welcome hurts he had given her.

A flicker of confusion played over his expression before Steve blushed too reading her body language accurately. He glanced at Emil before looking back at her. "Was I rough… with you?" he asked, his voice hovering between mortified, upset and genuinely concerned.

She traced her fingers down his arms and then up to his forehead, smoothing the deep lines between his brows and down his nose to his beautiful lush lips. She paused and lingered there, brushing her thumb lightly across his full bottom lip. "I just want to take you home, Steve. You're right, that we just need to face tomorrow when it comes. You're safe and I can breathe again. Let's get the briefing over with and just go home."

As he helped her stand, she felt that fluttering sensation again and froze. Steve shot her a concerned look before he read the awe and dawning comprehension in her eyes.

"Is it?"

"The baby, I think I feel the baby moving," she said her voice breaking with incomprehensible emotion. So many rocked through her body, along with Emil's and Steve's and with a sense of wonder she brought her hands to her abdomen as she felt the rolling flutter again. There was a burst of happiness, so pure and bright that she could feel her face ache from smiling. She felt Steve's fingers on her cheeks and realized she must have started crying. "I feel… I think I feel the baby, as in really feel what baby feels, like I feel you but different and…" her face colored like rose in bloom as her mind drew a parallel to a different kind of intimate connection. She felt closest to Steve, bonded emotionally and physically when she let her wall, mental blocks down while they made love but this was almost unconscious and intricate now that she acknowledged it. She could feel their baby. Yes, they were physically connected but she could feel the life bond.

Chloe took one of Steve's hands and put it over the barest swell of her abdomen. Steve bracketed her other hand and rubbed his thumb over her wrist in soothing circles. His excitement and joy was obviously to anyone who looked at him now, and she could feel how deep it went through her empathetic ability. She could also feel how much he wanted to reassure and protect then both.

"My priority is us," she said firmly. Her mission changed in the instant she understood the unique connection she had with their baby. It wasn't an idea or a maybe. She carried a life inside her, capable of emotion and need. This baby was real and needed her.

"Together," Steve said firmly.

Chloe nodded and pressed her face to his chest. He tucked her close and breathed her in. In his arms, she felt safe and untouchable. With his steady heartbeat and confident, soothing aura, a cocoon of strength, she could breathe ease. The longer he held her, the more grounded and centered she felt. Together they could weather whatever was to come. They had to. She couldn't fathom alternative. Not again. She wasn't sure she was strong enough to survive it, if she had to go through that loss a second time.

"Let's go home."

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the endless support and patience of my SullyRogers Captain, Purple_Moon123. I'm so very grateful to my faithful readers too. This is for you. My boy hounded me into picking up writing again, and this was the payoff. I finally finished this part of the series. Steve is whole again.


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